


Cupid in Love

by Destielshipper4Cas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Dean, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angel Castiel (Supernatural), Bottom Castiel, Castiel Deals With Having Human Emotions, Cuddling & Snuggling, Falling In Love, First Time, Fluff, Happy Ending, Implied attempted assault, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Oil Gland Kink, Omega Castiel, Omega Verse, Pining, Retired Hunter Dean Winchester, Scenting, Strangers to Lovers, Top Dean, Wing Grooming, Wing Kink, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:27:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24913084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destielshipper4Cas/pseuds/Destielshipper4Cas
Summary: Castiel’s success rate for matching humans who stay together for the rest of their lives is the best among his kind.Enter Dean Winchester, an alpha who breaks up with the perfect match Castiel found for him not once, but twice. If he wants to save his reputation as a cupid, Castiel has no other choice than to go to Earth in order to find out what this alpha’s issues are.It is supposed to be a quick trip. But things don’t always go as planned…
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 1167
Kudos: 2288
Collections: The Destiel Fan Survey Favs Collection





	1. Chapter 1

Love was easy.

Predictable, you might say—even if humans wouldn’t agree with him.

But here was the thing: Castiel was great at his job. And the reason was: Love was easy. It was simple math, really. You just had to find the right person and minimize the chances of divorce.

That’s why 99.7 % of Castiel’s matches stayed married. Until death do them part. Or longer than that, actually, since most of them were looking forward to meeting each other again in heaven.

So, yes. Making people who were right for each other fall in love was the easiest job heaven had to offer. Other angels had told him he’d make a better soldier than a cupid because he was too analytical. But his analytical approach turned out to be Castiel’s biggest advantage.

Unfortunately, that didn’t keep Gabriel from teasing him about how he wasn’t supposed to tackle matters of the heart in such an ‘accountant way.’ According to him, Castiel was supposed to use emotions and let ‘gut feelings’ lead him. Gabriel was more of a hands-on kind of angel, who couldn’t understand how a file with information could be all that Castiel needed. Instead, Gabe liked to go down to Earth and get to know his charges himself.

“How can you match them when you’ve never even met them?” he would ask whenever he tried to get Castiel to come play with the humans down on Earth.

But Gabriel’s divorce rate was at least ten times as high as Castiel’s, so it seemed like his ‘accountant way’ worked out just fine.

Of course, that’s why Castiel got the most difficult assignments. So, when there was a human with commitment issues, daddy issues, and… all kinds of issues, really, the file naturally landed on Castiel’s desk.

Dean Winchester. Alpha male whose ‘romantic’ interests so far had consisted of meaningless intercourse with omegas of either gender. No long-term relationship, even though he was in his late thirties, which for humans was an age when he should have found his mate already and preferably impregnated him or her a couple of times. (If he were one of Gabe’s assignments, he would probably be divorced by now.)

Alphas who valued sex above all else were hard to find a perfect match for since 83.6 percent of them ended up cheating on their omega. But Castiel was up to the task. It just meant he’d have to keep an eye out for an omega who had a high sex drive too.

As a retired hunter, Dean had done and seen a lot of things in his life, so Castiel made a note at the margins of the file and added ‘trust issues’ to the list. It was important to know what kind of baggage each partner brought to the table. He clearly needed someone who would accept Dean for who he was, but who could also break through those walls the retired hunter had built around himself.

It took him longer than he would like to admit to find Dean Winchester’s perfect match, but finally, months of hard work paid off: Lisa Braeden.

Just to be sure, he ran the calculations multiple times, but the outcome was the same: Lisa was the omega Dean would marry and be happy with for the rest of his life.

Arranging for them to meet was the easy part. A bar sounded about right for those two, so Castiel found one where they could fall in love.

Castiel had never fallen in love himself. He assumed, from everything he had read about it, that it had to be a great feeling. But all he ever did was dole out the tingling feelings without ever experiencing them firsthand. Sometimes, though, he wondered…

Unfortunately, wondering and daydreaming was all he could do since angels simply weren’t wired that way. They could analyze human emotions, yes, but they were unable to feel them.

So, with a sigh, he used his cupid magic to make Dean and Lisa receptive to seeing the other one as a potential mate, and let human hormones do the rest. He waited long enough for the confirmation that Dean and Lisa had started the courting period—and that was that. He could finally start in on the backlog of files that had piled up while he had been busy finding Dean’s mate.

⁂

_One year later…_

Castiel was satisfied with another day of helping humans find love when Gabriel came by his cloud with a mischievous grin on his face that told Castiel that he was here to get on his nerves.

“Dean Winchester and Lisa Braeden broke up. They never even got married. Who is the better cupid now?”

“Still me,” Castiel answered automatically before what Gabriel said really registered. “What, really?” He hadn’t even been alerted yet.

That was impossible! It had taken him _months_ to find the perfect match for this alpha! And he held the record for finding the perfect mate for someone in under 5.3 _minutes_.

At least this was the longest relationship Dean Winchester had ever had. But one year? That simply wouldn’t do. It was supposed to last a lifetime down on Earth.

Ignoring Gabriel, Castiel pulled out the files again, which now included the whole ups and downs of Dean and Lisa’s relationship, and then went back to the drawing board.

It took him even longer this time around, but he finally found what he had been looking for in Carmen Porter. She just _had_ to be Dean’s ideal mate.

This time, the relationship only lasted three months before Dean ended things.

What was the matter with that human alpha? He was ruining Castiel’s impeccable success rate!

Maybe he was the kind of human Gabriel’s approach worked better with after all, even though Castiel would never admit that in Gabe’s presence.

He might have to take a quick peek himself. Just a quick trip down to Earth to observe this strange alpha in his natural habitat. Dean wouldn’t even know that he was there. Field research. Yes, that sounded like a foolproof plan.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a while since Castiel had last visited Earth or even flown that far for that matter, so he didn’t quite stick the landing. While he had cloaked himself to be invisible to the human eye so that Dean would be oblivious to his presence, his wings knocked a picture right off the wall. Plus, he had forgotten to consider how loud the flapping of his wings was.

In hindsight, maybe he shouldn’t have flown right into Dean’s living room. Anyone else probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it, attributed it to a gust of wind maybe. But you simply didn’t mess with a former hunter.

Dean, who had been sitting on the couch with a beer, feet up on the table, jumped up, gun in hand, which he pointed about one foot to the left of Castiel.

“I know you’re there,” Dean said. “Look, I’m retired, so go bother someone else before I have to gank you, okay?”

“That gun won’t work,” Castiel informed him as he decloaked. Gabriel interacted with humans all the time—how hard could it be?

Very, it turned out, as Castiel had holy water from a flask thrown in his face the next second.

When he opened his eyes again, Dean was standing in front of him, the gun now replaced by a knife. Castiel inspected it more closely and identified it as a demon-killing knife. The human was still keeping his distance, though, obviously unsure of how to proceed.

What was it again you were supposed to say to humans?

“Fear not,” Castiel tried, and the next moment, Dean lunged forward and plunged the knife into his chest before taking a cautious step back.

Castiel looked at the knife curiously and then pulled it out and held it out for Dean, who looked at it as if this was a trap before taking it back without ever taking his eyes off Castiel.

Maybe he should have listened to his brother once in a while and tried to pick up some people skills. As things were going, he assumed he was not doing particularly well with making a good first impression on his most stubborn of human charges.

“As I was saying,” Castiel tried again, “there is no reason to be afraid.”

But Dean completely ignored his attempt at communicating with him and instead said, “Hold this!” as he threw something at him.

Castiel quickly caught it before taking a closer look. Some sort of silver ornament.

Finally, he was making progress! He knew that humans liked to give each other gifts as signs of affection. It seemed like he wasn’t half bad at making human friends after all.

“Thank you,” he said politely and put it away into the pocket of his trench coat, even though he had no idea what this object was for.

Apparently, that was not how human gift exchanging rituals worked, though. Dean huffed and said, “You’re not supposed to _keep_ it!”

“Oh.” Castiel quickly took it out again to hand it back just as he had the knife. “My apologies.” He made a mental note that human gifts were always to be returned. He was learning a lot of things about human culture already. Gabriel would be so proud of him.

“Okay, seriously, what _are_ you?” Dean asked as he put the silver thing away again.

“My name is Castiel,” he introduced himself. “I am an Angel of the Lord.”

Usually, that sentence should be followed up with something about bringing good news, but he really didn’t have any good news for Dean. He hadn’t found his third perfect mate yet. If anything, he had bad news because Dean was the first alpha who just didn’t get his happily ever after even when Castiel had found the perfect omega for him—twice!

“I don’t think so,” Dean said, and Castiel tilted his head at him, trying to figure out what he meant.

Oh. He was questioning Castiel’s species. Right. He did look rather human. Showing Dean the shadows of his wings should take care of that. He couldn’t help showing off by adding some lightning to the mix. That ought to convince the alpha (and maybe impress him a little bit too).

Or not. “Yeah, I’m gonna have to see those wings for real. Not some shadow puppet show.”

“What? I… you…” This was exactly why Castiel didn’t socialize. He was getting all flustered when someone didn’t react the way he had anticipated. But then he remembered that Dean was human and thus didn’t know what he was asking for. Regaining his composure, he decided to explain to the alpha that he had committed a faux pas, “Asking to see an angel’s wings is considered extremely rude.”

Dean didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest. He shrugged carelessly and said, “Yeah, well, it’s considered extremely rude to break into someone’s house. So… guess we’re even.”

“Technically, I didn’t ‘break in,’” Castiel corrected him. “I flew here.”

Dean crossed his arms. “Oh, sorry, my bad. Didn’t realize I left a window open.”

“I do not require an open window to fly into a house.”

Dean looked as if he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head and instead took a couple of steps towards him, tipped his head upwards a bit and… was that human trying to _scent_ him?! He couldn’t just scent an _angel_ , surely he knew that?

At least he had the decency to only scent the air around him. Still, it left Castiel strangely befuddled. What did you say to a human alpha who just audaciously tried to get a whiff of your scent?

Fortunately, he didn’t have to come up with an answer to that question as Dean took a step back and conceded, “Okay, not a threat. Let’s say that you are what you say you are… What’s an angel doing in my humble abode?”

That was a question that was easy to answer. “I’m the one who has been tasked with finding your perfect mate and you are not being very cooperative. You weren’t supposed to break up with Lisa Braeden. Or with Carmen Porter.”

Something he said had to have struck a nerve with Dean because his heart rate picked up and his expression darkened.

“Tasked with finding my perfect mate?” he repeated. “Are you for real?”

Castiel didn’t quite understand why Dean didn’t sound happy about it. Oh. Maybe he thought Castiel’s success rate was as low as Gabriel’s.

“I can assure you that most of my matches stay together for life,” he tried to calm Dean down. “This is highly irregular. I will make sure that the next omega I pair you with will be the one you marry and mate. Just as soon as I find out what went wrong with the first two.”

“What went _wrong_?” Dean didn’t seem reassured in the slightest. “I’ll tell you what went wrong. You can’t just put two people together and expect them to work out!”

That was exactly how it worked. But something told Castiel that Dean wouldn’t appreciate him pointing that out, so he decided to keep that universal truth to himself.

“What about free will?” Dean went on. “I don’t want to settle down with someone just because some winged fortune teller decided they are my ‘perfect mate.’”

This human was even more stubborn than anticipated. “You would prefer to find your perfect match yourself? Among millions of eligible omegas?” That was ridiculous. There was a reason angels were responsible for that task. Humans, if left to their own devices, tended to choose the wrong mate. Broken marriages and mating bonds were the result, and in the end, the alphas and omegas who had once loved each other would grow to resent each other.

“I would prefer to make my own decisions,” Dean countered.

The longer Castiel was in the presence of this human, the more his feathers got ruffled and not just in the figurative sense. Something weird was going on with his feathers, which puffed up and no doubt made him look utterly ridiculous. Luckily, his wings were invisible to Dean.

He needed to get out of here, collect himself, calm down his wings. He had no idea how Gabriel talked to humans on a regular basis without wanting to pull his feathers out.

“I can guarantee that you won’t find a better omega than me,” he told Dean, whose eyebrows went up at that, and Castiel quickly clarified, “Than I can find for you. But I can put your file to the back of the pile and give you some time to find the omega you think suits you best. Pray to me if you change your mind.”

And with a flap of his wings, he made his way back to heaven.


	3. Chapter 3

Back in heaven, Castiel did as promised and put Dean’s file away to concentrate on his other charges. After all, he had a lot of humans to help find love. One human certainly wouldn’t deter him from doing his job.

Only, much to his annoyance, his mind wandered back to his encounter with Dean.

Were humans even able to scent angels? Dean hadn’t _really_ scented him—it wasn’t like his nose had so much as touched Castiel’s neck. But it had seemed like he had gotten… _some_ thing from him, which was a bit baffling.

Angelic scent glands, like their wings, weren’t really meant for humans to interact with. They were there, but not for humans to see (in case of the wings) or scent (in regards to the scent glands)—or touch (in both cases).

Castiel also realized that, as much as he knew about human hormones and the exact balance required to have them fall in love with each other, he really didn’t know a lot about human behavior or even body language. That was especially irritating since he would really like to know what the weird look Dean had fixed him with meant.

At the end of the day, Castiel hadn’t worked on a single file. Instead, he had spent the whole day sitting there musing about humans—and one human in particular.

How strange. He had never lost focus like this before.

He was probably just curious about humans—they were a weird species after all. Maybe he could get Gabriel to share some of his knowledge with him.

“You came to the right angel,” Gabriel told him, his wings arching proudly. “First thing you should know: humans stand really close to each other. Like, _really_ close. It’s because they don’t have any wings as a buffer. By the way, you should take notes, I have so much to teach you.”

Castiel rolled his eyes, but he did pay close attention, just in case he found himself face-to-face with the human— _a_ human again. He wouldn’t get caught off guard a second time.

⁂

Angels, man. Turned out this Castiel dude was legit. There really were angels out there who were getting their freak on by messing with people’s lives.

Not that he had really doubted it after his encounter with Castiel. Any hunter worth his salt could scent out a lying son of a bitch, and Dean was especially proud of his scenting abilities. What he had gotten from Cas had been nothing but sincerity. Well, and bewilderment, but that was most likely due to the fact that he didn’t interact with humans a lot, it seemed.

In any case, even though Dean tended to trust his nose, he had gotten back into old hunter habits and done some research, just to be sure. And yep: Cas was apparently his cupid, tasked with finding Dean’s perfect mate.

Dean kind of regretted focusing too much on scenting for emotions when he’d had the chance because he thought he remembered a light, airy scent, but maybe that was just the scent of heaven clinging to Cas. Plus, at the time, he’d been pretty sure he’d picked up on _omega_ underneath it all, but he had no idea if angels even _had_ a secondary gender. Seemed like a good research task to pass on to Sam.

In order to take his mind off of Cas, he decided to go out, have some fun at a local bar.

It never took long until he’d caught an omega’s eye. Flirting came easy to him, even if it was just smiling at some omega over his beer with a nod or raising his eyebrows in a silent question of ‘wanna get out of here?’

When the omega he’d been flirting with from afar came over, Dean knew he was in for a night of fun.

Until she told him her name. “Hi, I’m Cassie.”

That took him right out of the moment. On closer inspection, she looked just like an omega Dean could see himself falling in love with.

“Yeah, it’s not gonna happen,” he told her, which might be a bit rude, especially after he had given her his best eyebrow flirt moves, but he didn’t really care at the moment.

Cas had promised him he wouldn’t be meddling in his love life anymore. Not that Dean had meant for this to turn into anything more than a one-night stand. But that was the whole point. While Dean himself only wanted some fun, Cas, probably sitting up there in heaven somewhere, had decided to send a possible future mate his way, after Dean had made it perfectly clear that he didn’t appreciate having decisions made for him.

He took the last swig of his beer and decided to head home for the night. One cupid was about to get a dissatisfied customer call!

Back home, Dean paced back and forth in his bedroom. He had only now realized that he didn’t quite know how to dial the phone so to speak since he had never prayed before. Was he supposed to start off with ‘Dear Castiel’? That sounded strangely formal, especially when the reason for his prayer was to complain.

He stopped his pacing and settled for the more casual, “Hey, Cas?” He looked up at the ceiling, as if he could direct his prayer heavenwards that way. “How does this work, do I just talk to you?”`

“Hello, Dean.”

Dean whipped around, almost colliding with Cas, who was standing mere inches away from him.

He exhaled, adrenaline from the perceived threat leaving his body. This angel seemed to be really bad at flying. First, he’d made a mess of Dean’s living room—now, he’d landed almost on top of Dean.

Stepping back wasn’t really an option for Dean here. He was an alpha, after all, and he’d been standing here, in his own bedroom, mind you, first. “Cas… Do you mind?” he said instead, motioning towards the narrow space between them.

“Oh. Of course.” Instead of backing off, Cas actually took a step closer. What the fuck?

Their lips were almost touching now, and Dean’s eyes dipped down to Cas’ chapped lips while his tongue involuntarily darted out to wet his own.

Against his better judgment, he felt his nostrils flare in response to the sweet smell of—yes, that had to be omega he smelled there. That answered that question. Of course, there was something else there in his scent, too, something Dean had never smelled before. It was intriguing and made his nose itch with the need to scent more deliberately.

There was something here, something strange and inexplicable—some sort of tension, some spark of electricity that passed between them.

Dean cleared his throat, still unmoving himself, standing his ground. It seemed like he had to spell it out. “Mind giving me some personal space here?”

Cas looked at him for a moment longer before finally stepping back. “Humans don’t usually stand this close to each other,” he said.

It was half statement, half question, so Dean answered, “Nope.”

Seemed like angels had different rules about personal space than humans did, which just reminded him of the fact that Cas was a whole other species, a friggen _angel_ , even if he looked just like a human.

Cas muttered something under his breath that sounded like “Gabriel!” Then he took another step back (now he was a bit too far away for Dean’s liking, but he wasn’t about to correct him again), and said, “You prayed to me. Did you change your mind about needing my help?”

Oh right. There had been a reason he had called this devastatingly handsome angel down to Earth, apart from ogling him and teaching him how to behave in a human-appropriate manner.

“No, I don’t need any help! And I’d appreciate it if you’d stop sending omegas I’m supposed to mate my way. We’ve talked about this! I don’t want this destined perfect mate bullshit!”

Cas tilted his head and squinted at him. “I have not interfered,” he stated.

“Oh, come on!” Dean said. “You’re trying to tell me you didn’t want me to meet ‘Cassie’ at that bar tonight?”

“You are not my only charge,” Cas replied. “I don’t sit around thinking about you all day.” There was a strange edge to his voice, and Dean had the distant feeling that he might not want to push the angel’s buttons too much.

They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment until Dean accepted that Cas was telling the truth and had not, in fact, tried to set him up with the omega at the bar. Which meant that he could be having sex with her right now instead of being locked into a staring match with an Angel of the Lord. Seemed like he’d cockblocked himself.

“Oh. Okay. Well, good,” Dean finally said. That’s the best apology he could come up with on such short notice, and Cas would just have to make do with it. “So. What’s new?” he then asked.

It was meant as a joke to lighten the mood and distract from the fact that he’d been kind of a jerk, but Cas didn’t pick up on that and instead took the question seriously. “My brother is an assbutt.”

And that’s how Dean found out why Cas had been in kissing range earlier. After that, they got to talking about brothers, about using the right swear words, and finally, Dean suggested that Cas didn’t need his ‘assbutt’ brother’s help, but could get his information about humans right from the source.

Coincidentally, that meant that Dean didn’t have to do any more research on angels, either, because they could trade off, satisfying their curiosity about each other’s species.

Somewhere along the line, they migrated to the kitchen for a snack (for Dean—Cas mumbled something about molecules), and suddenly, Dean realized that they’d been talking for a couple of hours and he’d actually had a lot of fun. Maybe losing out on that opportunity to have sex with some random omega hadn’t been the worst thing. Getting to spend time with a real-life angel, who was actually turning out to be really easy to talk to, was a lot more interesting anyway.

Still it had gotten pretty late, and Dean found himself yawning.

Cas was tilting his head again, which Dean had quickly realized meant that he was trying to make sense of some human particularity.

“You need sleep,” he realized.

“Yeah, well. Side effect of being human.” He rubbed at his eyes, trying to chase the sleepiness away, and by the time he looked over again, the angel was gone.

Dean shook his head, grinning despite himself. Seemed like Cas hadn’t figured out the human convention of goodbyes either. Dean would have to teach him all about it on his next visit.


	4. Chapter 4

From then on, they developed some kind of strange human-angel bond where they hung out regularly to talk about… pretty much anything and everything. He even got Cas to have the occasional beer with him, even though, apparently, angels didn’t drink.

Cas came whenever Dean called him. And Dean called him _a lot_. At first, he came up with various excuses for why he needed an angel’s assistance. But soon enough, no more excuses were needed and he could just call him down when he was bored… or maybe even missed him. A little bit. Since they were developing this interspecies friendship and all.

More than that—sometimes he didn’t even have to pray to him, but Cas just stopped by on his own.

That needed some getting used to, though, because the angel had no concept of boundaries. For example, he might fly into Dean’s bedroom and watch him sleep, waiting for him to wake up. And then there was the one time he had flown right into Dean’s bathroom when he was just getting out of the shower.

“Are you still embarrassed because I saw your penis?”

Oh, yes. And he said stuff like that, in his usual deadpan, wondering why Dean would splutter and reprimand him, “You don’t _say_ things like that!”

At least Dean was fully clothed this time. They were in the kitchen, where he was about to make himself a burger for dinner.

“I already apologized. I was unaware humans are so particular about nakedness. I don’t know why—you’re clearly very attractive by human standards…”

“Geez, thanks.”

“Your penis is very well proportioned…”

Dean dropped the buns and quickly bent to pick them up again. “Okay, you _definitely_ don’t say things like _that_!”

But of course, Cas didn’t understand what the big deal was, and just tilted his head and blinked at him before pointing out, “I was paying you a compliment.”

With a sigh, Dean put his head into his hands. He didn’t even know where to begin with this lesson in what was appropriate to talk about and what was not.

Turned out, he shouldn’t have taken so long to think of what to say because Cas used the moment of silence to ask, “Are all human penises so big?”

“Okay, that’s it! We’re done talking about this!” He used his no-nonsense voice to put an end to this discussion. Although in retrospect, he should have known that the angel would just ignore it.

“It is probably because they enjoy engaging in carnal activities so much,” Cas mumbled, although that might have been more to himself.

Dean was starting to get a bit curious despite himself: why was Cas so surprised? Surely, he had picked up on the fact that Dean was an alpha? His mission was to find him an omega, after all.

“So what, no ‘carnal activities’ up in heaven?” he found himself asking even though he was supposed to teach Cas that this was not appropriate dinner conversation.

“Angels live forever, so there is no need for us to procreate.”

That was an evasive answer if Dean had ever heard one.

“You do know sex is not just for making pups, right?”

Cas’ eyes flitted away from his, which was… interesting.

“So you’ve… never?” Dean asked, raising his eyebrows. He left out _…been had by an alpha_ , but it was implied.

The dark look he got for that told him that he probably shouldn’t tease him too much about being some millennia-old virgin.

“I’ve had someone groom my wings before,” Cas stated, an edge to his voice that might be embarrassment or maybe just annoyance.

“Groom your wings, huh?” Dean huffed a laugh. “Is that a euphemism?”

“No. Weren’t we talking about physical intimacy?”

“We were talking about _sex_. You know, an alpha and an omega getting nasty? When the alpha mounts the omega and pounds his ass?”

And that was seemingly too much teasing or maybe it had been too crass for the angel’s sensibilities. In any case, Cas did what he usually did when he felt uncomfortable: fly away. And here Dean had considered sharing his burger with Cas. Oh well, more for him to eat.

⁂

Damn his wings! They tended to misbehave while in Dean’s presence.

Back on his cloud, he tried to get them to calm down, smoothing down the feathers as well as he could.

“Oooh, what got your feathers in a twist?”

Not right now! This was a really embarrassing position to catch him in. He quickly let go of his wing to glare at Gabe.

“What do you want?” At least, talking to Gabe finally made his feathers lie back down in an orderly fashion.

Gabe grinned at him, as always in a chipper mood. “Just checking up on how our bet is going.”

“I didn’t bet you anything.”

“Oho. I disagree. Dean Winchester ring a bell? You struck out _twice_. Third time means I win. So… You find him a mate yet?”

“I’m just about to look for one,” Castiel lied to get rid of his brother. Since he was rather bad at lying, Gabe would most likely know that he wasn’t telling the truth, which was why he quickly added, “Why don’t you take care of your own charges?”

Once he was alone again, Castiel thought back to his visit to Earth. Or, well, to Dean. Something very strange was going on with his stomach whenever he thought about the human alpha. Plus, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his other charges for _hours_ after visiting Dean.

Maybe it was the air down on Earth. Yes, that had to be it. He just had to get acclimated to it.

Scents down on Earth were so much more… intense. He had noticed it for the first time when he had fallen for Gabriel’s prank and had stood really close to Dean. Humans smelled _nice_!

Ever since then, he had tried to inconspicuously scent in Dean’s general direction again. But he didn’t want Dean to think he was weird—well, _too_ weird, Dean already thought of angels as a weird species—so getting another whiff of his scent without getting caught wasn’t easy. Of course, Dean’s whole house had that nice Dean-smell, but some long-buried angel instinct wanted him to get closer, maybe scent his scent gland?

Which was completely ridiculous, of course. Angels didn’t scent humans.

Still, when he thought back to what he had picked up on from Dean’s scent, his stomach did that weird thing again, which was starting to become unnerving.

It only got worse when Dean started teasing him more about his inexperience concerning certain aspects of physical intimacy.

“How about you let me be your wingman for once?” the alpha asked the next night when Castiel stopped by.

“You do not have any wings,” Castiel informed him, just in case that it had slipped Dean’s mind.

Dean rolled his eyes in a way that told Castiel that he had missed some sort of reference. “No, I mean let me hook you up with someone. You know, get you laid.”

Disregarding his protests, the alpha insisted on dragging him to his favorite bar, so for the first time, they left Dean’s house together. Castiel offered to fly them there, but Dean refused since apparently, driving to the bar was half the fun.

Castiel had no intention of engaging in interspecies sex with a human, but he humored Dean and tried talking to some of the alphas Dean brought over to their booth.

Sooner or later, Castiel said something to scare them off, though, which Dean seemed to find amusing. But Dean had already had some alcoholic beverages, so his human body might just find things amusing because of the alcohol in his bloodstream.

“Seriously, how are you messing this up? With those looks and that scent, all you have to do is sit there and let them pick you up. Hang on, that alpha over there has been eying you all night. Just look at him and nod for him to come over.”

The alpha Dean had picked out this time immediately came over once Castiel had established eye contact. At the very least Castiel was learning a lot about nonverbal human communication tonight.

“What’s your deal, gorgeous? You here with him?” the alpha asked, nodding towards Dean.

“Yes.”

“As friends,” Dean quickly added before he excused himself to get another beer, which was, as he had explained earlier, code for giving them some privacy.

Once Dean was gone, they were engaging in what Castiel now correctly identified as ‘small talk’ and unlike the other alphas before, this one only laughed when Castiel said something humans might consider strange.

When the alpha—Matt—touched his thigh, Castiel was starting to think that he was making another human friend. Humans who were friendly towards one another liked to touch each other. But he had no chance to find out if his assertion had been correct because that’s when Dean came back and snarled at the alpha, “Take a hike.”

There was some sort of stare-off between the humans and then Matt got up and left.

“I think he liked me,” he told Dean, a bit unsure about what had just happened. It had been _Dean’s_ idea to come here.

“Yeah, but he wasn’t good enough for you. Gotta have some standards.”

There were still so many things about humans Castiel didn’t understand. He didn’t mind that Dean had gotten rid of Matt, though. His favorite human was right there next to him, and Castiel was happy when they left the bar and went back home… to Dean’s.


	5. Chapter 5

Mission ‘Get Cas deflowered’ hadn’t worked out so well, Dean mused once Cas had flown off once more and Dean was lying in bed, trying and failing to fall asleep.

He should have known that picking some random alpha at a bar wasn’t the best idea to find Cas someone to hook up with and take care of that whole angel virgin thing. But it hadn’t been until this alpha douche had had his hands all over Cas that Dean had realized his mistake: Cas deserved so much better than some alpha who was just looking to get his knot wet and probably wasn’t even interested in the omega’s pleasure.

Plus, Dean had not liked the way the alpha had looked at Cas one bit. Like he was the best kind of snack. Dean might have gotten a bit territorial there for a second, but he should get credit for holding his alpha back from getting into an alpha fight. (Okay, if the alpha hadn’t walked away just then, that might have happened anyway, but still.)

In any case, there was no hurry. If Cas had waited a few millennia to have sex, he probably didn’t mind waiting a bit longer until he found someone he actually cared about and _wanted_ to have sex with. Someone who would treat him right. Someone who would take care of him and make it unforgettable for him. And if it took him another millennium or two to find that someone, then who was Dean to meddle in his affairs? After all, Cas had promised to back off playing matchmaker for the time being, so Dean should treat him with the same respect.

That’s why the next time they went out to a bar, Dean didn’t even mention finding him an alpha to get him laid. Luckily, Cas didn’t remind him of that plan either, so all was good. They had much more fun just the two of them anyway.

Since he now regularly took Cas with him when he went to bars, there weren’t really many opportunities for him to hook up either. The longer he went without bedding an omega, the more sexually frustrated he felt, which meant more solo missions for him while perusing his favorite porn site.

His favorite videos were the ones where the omegas relinquished control completely because he could _see_ the moment of true submission: when they gave in to their omega instincts, their eyes turned golden. No way to fake that. Of course, there were some videos that had been edited to make it look like the color of their eyes changed, but you could spot the fake ones easily enough.

Tonight was one of those nights where he really needed to release some of that pent up sexual energy. That’s why he chose a video and let it play on his laptop while he was sitting in bed, touching his dick and imagining that he was the alpha in the video about to fuck that omega until he couldn’t take the pleasure anymore and looked up at him with golden eyes.

It didn’t come as a surprise that his mind started wandering, now that he had an angel friend. Did omega angels’ eyes turn golden too when their instincts had them submit to an alpha pushing his cock inside of them? When they were completely at the alpha’s mercy?

The thought was strangely arousing and had Dean fuck his fist harder.

He could just imagine Cas’ beautiful eyes blinking up at him… God, he would look so pretty taking his cock!

Dean closed his eyes so that he didn’t have to look at the two people on screen going at it anymore, but could instead see that image of Cas more clearly before his inner eye, naked and writhing in pleasure beneath him.

“If the alpha truly loves this omega, why does he keep slapping his rear?”

Dean opened his eyes wide, slammed the laptop shut and almost fell out of bed as he scrambled to use the bedspread to cover himself all at the same time.

“What the hell, man!” he yelled at Cas, who was standing beside the bed, his expression one of idle curiosity, similar to when he asked about PB&J sandwiches or humans’ need to urinate. “You don’t just—you can’t just… _Knock_ first, dammit!”

They’d had that conversation after the flying into his bathroom incident. Cas should know better by now.

Just like the bathroom incident, Cas didn’t seem to understand that this was an awkward situation. He just tilted his head at Dean as if he wanted to figure out why Dean was angry with him, and said, “I thought you might require my help.”

“ _What_? No, I’m good, thanks.” Dean wrapped the bedspread more securely around himself because he was kind of at a disadvantage here, with Cas looming above him, fully clothed. “If I had required your help, I’d have prayed to you. If I don’t ask you to come down, you knock before you enter, got it?”

“I felt longing,” Cas replied. “So I thought I would make sure everything was okay.”

“You felt— _what_?” Dean forgot for a second that he was supposed to get rid of Cas as fast as possible so that he could get dressed (no way was he going to finish that jerk-off session after that disruption).

“Longing,” Cas repeated. “I can feel my charges’ longing. It’s supposed to be an incentive for cupids to do their job right. If I find the right mate, the longing will stop.” He looked at Dean all intense like he usually did and then added, “I think you should let me find your mate.”

Not this again! “I didn’t _long_ for anything!” Dean denied. “Maybe you got me confused with one of your other charges.”

Never one to pass up a chance to make things even more awkward, Cas stated, “You were pleasuring yourself.” His eyes were fixed on where Dean had his hand balled in the bedspread as if he was trying to see through it.

Dean really wanted to bury his head in his hands, but he had to hold on to the bedspread, so unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

Instead, he lashed out. “Yeah, that’s what humans _do_. Consider this your human lesson for the day. Now—do you _mind_?”

Finally, Cas understood that he was intruding here. His eyes widened as they met Dean’s again and the next second he was gone. Dean almost felt a bid bad, but seriously. Cas should learn not to pop in out of nowhere when he needed some private time.

⁂

At first, Castiel had been puzzled and maybe a little bit fascinated when he had flown in on Dean watching a naked alpha making love to an equally naked omega while Dean himself was stroking his own erect penis.

Instead of answering his very valid question as to why the alpha was hitting the omega, Dean had yelled at him for forgetting the rule about knocking. Humans were easily embarrassed about nakedness, Castiel had learned that much already.

Dean had hidden his penis from view, which was a shame because something about seeing Dean’s hand wrapped around it had left Castiel’s wings all aflutter. 

Something strange happened then. The room was still smelling of Dean’s arousal and the thought of Dean pleasuring himself made his insides tingle and burn. He felt hot all over and his wings ached to be touched by this human.

In all his life, Castiel had never experienced such a strange feeling. He had only ever felt other people’s longing. Humans’ longing. But this time? This time _he_ was the one who was longing for… something. And for some strange reason, Dean seemed to be the only one who would be able to satiate his longing.

Since Dean appeared to be mad at him and probably wouldn’t want to touch any part of him, much less his wings, Castiel quickly retreated back to heaven.

That’s when he realized something else. Not only did his wings act in a way they never had before, but his ass felt weird too.

He could understand why his oil glands were starting to secrete oil—it had been a while since he had last groomed his wings. But why was his asshole wet? And why was he feeling hot when he shouldn’t be affected by temperature?

Something strange was going on indeed.


	6. Chapter 6

At first, Castiel tried to ignore these strange sensations and concentrated on finding the perfect mate for Anna Milton instead, which for some reason proved difficult. Maybe he had lost his touch. First Dean, now this Anna Milton…

Even though after a while, his asshole wasn’t wet anymore, his wings were too itchy to concentrate for long, which was why he went to find Rachel—and old friend and his grooming buddy.

A good grooming would set his wings straight, no doubt.

As always, Rachel was happy to see him, and they chatted for a while about heaven’s latest gossip (apparently, Gabe had played a prank on Raphael, who was now walking around with pink wings).

Then they found a comfortable grooming position with Castiel sitting with his back to Rachel—and the grooming could begin.

Only, the second Rachel touched his wing, Castiel flinched away almost violently and tried to pull it back out of her reach.

“Was I too rough?” Rachel asked, squinting at him.

“No. My apologies.” Castiel forced his wing back into a relaxed position.

The second attempt did not go much better. Even though Castiel desperately needed his wings groomed—Rachel’s hands on his wing felt… _wrong_ all of a sudden.

“There is something weird about you today,” Rachel stated as she plucked a feather from his wing. After a beat of silence, she added, “Your scent is off.”

Castiel couldn’t answer since he had to grit his teeth to keep still and not just fly away from those hands that had groomed him a million times. Probably more. Never had it felt this uncomfortable.

He tried to tell himself that he’d feel so much better once they were freshly groomed. But he simply couldn’t endure the whole grooming process. One more touch to his wing and Castiel turned around, dislodging Rachel’s hands.

“Thank you, they are feeling much better,” he lied.

“But I haven’t even finished the left one,” Rachel replied, a deep frown on her face.

Castiel ignored that remark and instead asked, “Do you need me to do yours as well?”

They had been grooming buddies for a long time and this had never happened. Usually, Castiel didn’t mind getting groomed. It gave him some time to meditate and after, his wings felt great and he would go fly around for a bit and enjoy stretching them.

Rachel didn’t say anything else about his sudden reluctance to let her finish grooming his wings, but Castiel was glad when he was back on his own cloud, where he didn’t have to explain himself to anyone.

 _“Hey, Cas. You got your ears on?”_ Dean’s voice interrupted his thoughts. _“Got some time to stop by?”_

Usually, Castiel would be down in a second. But he wasn’t sure if that was the best idea with the way he was feeling right now. Just hearing Dean’s voice was doing things to his wings, stomach and… heart? Somewhere in his chest area in any case, which felt as if there was not enough air up in heaven.

 _“Listen, I didn’t mean to be short with you yesterday.”_ Dean’s voice sounded in his mind again.

Maybe a short trip to say hello to Dean wouldn’t hurt. It seemed like he thought Castiel was mad at him and perhaps Castiel should tell him that angels weren’t built to be mad. They were a very forgiving species and being resentful just wasn’t in their nature. As a matter of fact, Castiel hadn’t even picked up on Dean ‘being short with him.’ Maybe he was referring to the fact that he hadn’t let him in on the secret as to why the alpha in the video had slapped the omega’s ass.

_“Cas? You there?”_

Decision made, Castiel flew down to Dean’s bedroom, where he felt Dean’s presence, appearing right behind the alpha.

“Hello, Dean.”

Dean wheeled around. “Oh, hey. Just thought we could—” He stopped mid-sentence and his nostrils flared. “Dude, are you in pre-heat or something?”

Castiel rolled his eyes. Humans. Always thinking about reproduction. “I am an angel, Dean. We don’t go into heat.”

The thought of what an alpha like Dean would do to an omega in heat sent another tingly wave through his wings.

“Whoa!” Dean’s eyes widened as he looked at something behind Castiel.

Castiel turned around to see what he was looking at, but there was nothing there. “Are you alright?” he asked Dean when he turned back to him.

“Yeah. I just… wow! They look so much cooler than I imagined!”

That’s when Castiel realized: the tingling hadn’t just been _any_ tingling—it had been the feeling of his treacherous wings manifesting. Right here, while he was on earth, where they were supposed to stay hidden from human view.

“Oh. Uhm.”

Wait—Dean thought they were ‘cool’?

They weren’t even groomed well. He had interrupted Rachel before she had been able to get the feathers into order.

“They are actually quite a mess,” Castiel mumbled. Having Dean stare at his wings like that made him feel a bit self-conscious, but not enough to tuck them away again.

“What—are you kidding me? They’re awesome! Can I touch?” Dean took a step closer, hand halfway outstretched already, but not quite touching yet. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and waited for an answer.

With the way Dean made him feel like the ground was shifting and there was nothing to hold on to, letting him touch his wings was probably not very wise.

But Dean was looking so hopeful and the idea of Dean’s hands on him did sound appealing.

“I… yes.”

As soon as he had given permission, Dean stepped up to him and just… _went_ for it, plunging his hands deep into his feathers, mumbling the occasional “wow” as he was inspecting Castiel’s wings.

Having Dean’s hands on him only intensified his instincts to… what? Touch the human back? Bare his throat? Ridiculous! He was an angel! He was infinitely more powerful. No reason to show submissive behavior to a human!

In all the years with Rachel as his grooming buddy, it had never felt like this!

Castiel closed his eyes to enjoy the ministrations.

Oh. So _that’s_ what he had been feeling—he had found a new grooming buddy in Dean. His wings had simply told him that they wanted _Dean_ to groom them.

If he let him, those confusing feelings would go away for sure.

“Dean? Do you want to…” He trailed off, unsure of how to ask. Finally, he tried a different tactic, “Do humans have grooming buddies?”

Of course, he couldn’t groom Dean’s _wings_ in return for the simple fact that he didn’t have any. But maybe his hair? Hadn’t he heard something about humans braiding each other’s hair? That was probably what human grooming buddies did.

He saw Dean swallow and waited for him to reply. “Sure, I’ll groom you.”

That was easier than he had thought. Maybe Dean didn’t have a grooming buddy and couldn’t reach some places that were in need of grooming.

A human as a grooming buddy was maybe a bit strange, but this was _Dean_ , his human friend, and frankly, Castiel couldn’t care less as long as Dean didn’t stop touching him.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean, being a human, needed some instruction on how to properly groom an angel’s wings, but he caught on quickly and with each touch to his sensitive wings, Castiel felt more and more comfortable letting a human touch him in such an intimate way that was usually reserved for fellow angels.

He was lying in the middle of Dean’s bed on his stomach, his left wing that Dean was currently working on spread out, because that position made it easier for the alpha to reach all of the feathers that needed to be preened.

For convenience reasons, they had gotten rid of Castiel’s trench coat, shirt and tie, all of which were lying at the end of the bed.

Dean was very careful and the slight prickling sensation when he found a feather that had to go didn’t feel unpleasant like he would have expected.

“Okay, done,” Dean declared as he let his fingers glide through Castiel’s feathers one last time, smoothing them out. Castiel’s feathers did not agree, though, and immediately fluffed back up.

“Whoa, you getting goosebumps or something?” Dean asked as he tried smoothing them down once more.

Since Castiel wasn’t quite sure himself what was going on here, he chose to ignore that question. Instead, he folded his wings back and turned around.

Of course, there was one way that his wings might get the message to stay put—if they were to be treated with wing oil, which would be the next step in the grooming process. But Dean had just spent the better part of an hour meticulously grooming his wings and shouldn’t have to spend any more time on him. Plus, he might find it disgusting getting his hands all sticky.

“Thank you, Dean,” Castiel said as he got up to get dressed again. That wasn’t really all that easy with his wings in the way, so he finally tucked them back into the ethereal plane, which worked just fine now that Dean had groomed them and they had apparently gotten what they had craved.

“Anytime,” Dean replied with a smile on his face.

He was still sitting on the bed when Castiel was fully dressed. Now it was his turn to figure out how inter-species grooming worked. Sitting down next to Dean, he decided to just try his best. Without waiting for instructions, he simply reached out and let his fingers run through Dean’s hair in an attempt to smooth it. He couldn’t possibly go through it one hair at a time, could he? Did he have to look for broken ones?

“Uhm… what are you doing?” Dean asked as he ducked out of the way of Castiel’s hands.

“Oh.” Castiel let his hands fall back into his own lap. “Am I grooming you wrong?” He probably should have asked how the human grooming buddy system worked first. He didn’t have the first clue about human grooming habits.

There was a beat of silence and Dean’s eyes flitted away from Castiel’s, a rather perplexed look on his face as his mouth opened and then closed again. Finally, he said, “Nah, that’s… pretty much how it works. Just caught me by surprise is all.”

This time when Castiel let his fingers comb through Dean’s hair, he let him.

Maybe having a human grooming buddy wasn’t so bad after all.

Angel grooming buddies only needed to do each other’s wings maybe once every few months, if that. They always had their grace to fall back on, after all, even if it wasn’t quite the same as a good grooming from another angel. Fortunately, Dean didn’t know that, so when Castiel’s wings were acting up again not even twenty-four hours later, he went to ask his new grooming buddy if he could help him out. Dean didn’t even bat an eye at the request.

“How often do human grooming buddies groom each other?” Castiel asked, wondering if maybe grooming each other once a day was normal for humans.

“Probably about the same as angels,” Dean replied with a shrug, strangely avoiding eye contact.

Once they were back in grooming position and Dean’s hands were finally back where they belonged—shoved into his feathers—Castiel felt the tension leave his shoulders.

Ever since Dean had first touched him in this way, a confusing kind of bond had formed between them. Okay, so maybe the bond had started forming long before his wings had revealed themselves to Dean, but it had _intensified_. Maybe this was why humans weren’t supposed to touch an angel’s wings—their touch was addicting.

Of course, Castiel had only shown Dean part of what grooming was all about. Maybe that’s why he had felt the need to come back for another grooming session so soon. The last one had been cut short.

He tried to chase these thoughts away and just enjoy his grooming buddy’s hands sliding through his feathers.

If Dean noticed that the feathers weren’t out of order and weren’t exactly in need of grooming, he didn’t mention it. Instead, he caressed Castiel’s wings in a way that sent a pleasurable warmth through him.

Since there weren’t any broken feathers to pluck out this time, Dean’s hands were simply gliding from his back over the wing bones into the feathers, leaving trails of tingling sensations behind.

After a while, Dean’s fingers inadvertently brushed against his oil glands at the base of his wings once, twice, making him shudder. The third time it happened, Castiel began to suspect that it might not be completely accidental after all, especially when Dean took one gland between his thumb and index finger and rubbed it gently, curiously between his fingers.

The teasing was too much for his oil gland and it started leaking, as it was supposed to when coaxed into secreting oil.

“That’s normal,” Castiel was quick to inform Dean, trying to look over his shoulder to see Dean’s reaction. He knew that humans didn’t have uropygial glands, and what humans didn’t know, they more often than not considered weird. For some reason, he didn’t want Dean to think of his wings as something ‘weird.’

But Dean just answered, “Yeah, I know,” and continued fondling his oil glands unperturbed. “Did some research. Turns out you left out some things.”

Since they had spent quite some time together during the last few weeks, Castiel was getting better at picking up on what Dean wasn’t saying. In this case, the question of why Castiel hadn’t told him everything was obvious in Dean’s tone of voice, so he explained, “I thought you might not appreciate getting your hands all slick with my wing oil.”

“I never mind getting my hands slick,” Dean said and his tone of voice changed yet again, only this time, Castiel couldn’t figure out the meaning. It almost sounded teasing, but the reason behind it eluded him.

Another expert touch to his oil gland made him forget what he had been thinking about.

Whatever research Dean had done, it was obviously accurate, as he had effortlessly gotten Castiel’s oil glands to continuously secrete oil, which he proceeded to spread across his wings before moving back for more oil, kneading and massaging the glands some more.

The oil gland Dean was teasing mercilessly was sopping wet at this point, pouring oil. There had to be a connection between his oil glands and his mating gland because it started tingling in sympathy with what Dean’s hands were doing to his back and wings. Maybe the connection extended to his stomach as well, since strange sensations began to build low in his abdomen, spreading throughout his body.

Dean paused for a moment, his hands still on Castiel’s wings. “You’re going into heat,” he said.

“No, I’m not,” Castiel denied because this tone of voice, he recognized, and he didn’t want Dean to stop whatever it was they were doing here. (Because this had gone further than normal grooming. He had been groomed before and _never_ had it felt like this.)

“Cas—I can smell it on you.”

“That’s the wing oil.” Impatient because Dean still hadn’t resumed his massage, Castiel bucked up in an attempt to get that hand on his back moving again.

In response, Dean simply used the hand between his shoulder blades to push him down with gentle pressure, which sent a thrilling wave of anticipation through his body.

He knew enough about human alphas to know how he could get Dean to do what he desperately needed, and so he bared his neck as best he could in this position. It was absolutely for Dean’s benefit and had nothing to do with the fact that somehow, all of his angelic instincts _told_ him to.

Sure enough, Dean’s fingers returned to his oil glands, tentatively seeking out the leaking nubs and twisting them _just right_. The alpha probed at the tender gland a bit more, getting it to release another gush of liquid. But instead of spreading it out across his wings, Dean kept his focus on teasing the gland further. Then, suddenly, the first digit of his finger slipped into the small opening and Castiel felt a tremor rippling through his wings, the pleasure almost too intense to bear.

“ _Dean!_ ” he moaned, squeezing his eyes shut in pleasure, no idea what it was he was begging for, but sure that Dean would be the only one who would be able to give it to him.

He needed _more_!

But instead, suddenly, there was _less_. Dean’s hands gone, Dean’s scent gone, the bed underneath him gone, and Castiel stumbled to the ground as he opened his eyes to blinding brightness.

He was back in heaven, only he hadn’t flown there himself. He had been summoned.


	8. Chapter 8

Castiel hastily stumbled to his feet in order to make the best impression he could, considering that his shirt and trench coat were still back at Dean’s place. It wasn’t often that cupids were summoned by the higher-ups and since Castiel’s track record had been impeccable up to this point, there had simply been no reason for anyone to summon him.

Raphael was standing in front of him, arms crossed, his wings with specks of pink just as Rachel had described, which probably meant that he wasn’t in the best mood to begin with.

“What do you think you’re doing, Castiel?” he asked, looking up and down his naked chest with disdain.

“I was getting groomed by my grooming buddy,” Castiel replied, well aware of the fact that Raphael probably didn’t approve of a human grooming buddy. At least it explained his half-undressed state.

Raphael ignored his answer in favor of scolding him, “Must I remind you that Heaven does not tolerate the existence of nephilims?”

“Nephilims?” Castiel repeated, sure he had missed part of the conversation. He had assumed Raphael would reprimand him for neglecting his job. (The files were starting to pile up. Lots of humans were waiting to be paired with their perfect mate.) But what did nephilims have to do with any of that?

“You reek of heat and human alpha,” Raphael said, his voice clipped. “He was seconds away from trying to get you with nephilim.”

“But… angels don’t go into heat,” Castiel repeated what he had told Dean moments before. At the same time, his wings started itching again, longing for Dean’s touch, and there was a tingling warmth deep in his belly aching for Dean to… do something.

Maybe the heat theory wasn’t that far-fetched.

Again, Raphael chose to ignore Castiel’s remark and instead motioned to a closed door, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. “We have arrangements in place for angels in heat.”

With those words, he opened the door with a wave of his hand, stepping aside to let Castiel have a look. It was just another white room with a single chair in the middle of it. A closer look revealed that it seemed to have straps on the armrests. It certainly wasn’t as homey as Castiel’s cloud. Or better yet Dean’s bedroom.

Castiel would much rather fly back down to Dean and have him touch his wings some more. But insubordination was not an option, so he hesitantly stepped inside the room.

“How do I…” he began to ask, turning back around, but Raphael had waved his hand again to lock the door, leaving Castiel without the first clue as to how angels in heat went about taking care of it.

⁂

Dean had just had his hands full of angel feathers, the delicious scent of wing oil mixed with the beginnings of Cas’ heat teasing his nostrils and awakening his alpha, when, all of a sudden and without any prior warning, Cas just flew off.

A second before, he’d moaned Dean’s name wantonly, which had emboldened Dean to redouble his efforts, show that obviously sensitive oil gland a good time, and then—nothing.

Maybe it hadn’t been the kind of moan that meant Cas wanted to keep going. Maybe it had been an attempt to get Dean to stop. Either way, something had spooked Cas, and Dean realized a second too late that he had gone too far. He was dealing with a virgin angel here, after all. One who was just going into heat for the first time in his life, it seemed.

Plus, Cas had mentioned that grooming was intimate, but not sexual. Dean’s alpha instincts had just overcome him with that scent that had clouded his judgment and those wings, and the sounds Cas had made…

Dean was the first person to admit that he sucked at apologizing, but his stomach was in knots at the thought that Cas was mad at him for turning a pure angelic ritual into something that it wasn’t meant to be. So, he tried his best as he prayed to Cas and apologized for taking it too far.

But Cas didn’t turn up like he usually did when Dean prayed to him. At the very least, Dean would have thought he’d come get his beloved trench coat.

After a few more prayer attempts that went unanswered, Dean finally gave up. Maybe Cas had realized that he was going into heat and didn’t trust Dean to hold back if he came back down in his current state. Some part of Dean had to concede that he might be right about that.

It had been rather hard to hold himself back from getting even more inappropriate with Cas than he had already been. There hadn’t really been a lot of platonic thoughts left inside his head when it came to the angel. After all, Cas was the whole package: nice, funny (in his own way), geeky (which had somewhere along the way become a turn-on for Dean), with a scent to die for—and don’t even get him started on those unnaturally good looks and huge wings Dean had quickly developed a kink for.

Of course, those kinds of thoughts were highly inappropriate, considering that Cas was his _angel_ friend, whose job it was to find Dean a mate. And yet, here he was, his thoughts circling back to Cas lying half-naked on his bed, writhing in pleasure because of what Dean was doing to his oil glands.

By the time Dean went to bed that night, he was still restless because he hadn’t heard from Cas at all, even though he had prayed to him a couple more times. He just hoped Cas wasn’t busy getting it on with another angel—some alpha angel who thought Cas was his to touch and drive his cock into until he’d spill inside of him. At that thought, Dean growled at the imaginary alpha.

It took a long time for him to fall asleep.

Almost immediately, he startled awake.

Cas was sitting at the end of his bed, shirtless. “I heard your prayers,” he said. There was a light sheen of sweat on his face and torso that Dean could just make out in the darkness, but for some reason, the scent was dulled. It was still obvious that Cas was in heat. “I was summoned back to heaven by my superiors,” he explained. “I had to wait for you to fall asleep so that I could visit.”

Relief washed over Dean when he realized that he hadn’t freaked Cas out so badly that he had run off into some alpha angel’s arms.

Since they were still sitting in darkness, he turned on the bedside lamp and asked, “So what, this is just a dream?”

Cas inclined his head and his tongue darted out to wet his chapped lips. “I feel strange,” he admitted. “For the first time, I feel…” He trailed off, probably because he didn’t have the right words for it. Helplessly, he looked into Dean’s eyes and Dean could see the omega right at the surface, which in return made his alpha want to pounce. Instead of turning golden, Cas’ eyes were an unnaturally bright blue. “It feels like if no one touches me, I will perish. I don’t know what to do,” he concluded.

Dean thought back to his own first rut and how confused he had been, even though he had known what was going on and how to get through it. He’d heard that it was worse for omegas, but he had no idea how angels fit into all of this.

Leaning over, he poked Cas in the center of his chest. Yup, he could still touch him, even though they were inside of his dream. Although touching him might not help the way Cas imagined it would.

When Cas poked him back experimentally, Dean realized that the angel thought he was trying to teach him something here. “No, that’s not the kind of touch…” He broke off and tried a different approach. “Do you have any toys?”

“I am not a pup.”

Yeah, he kind of set himself up for that one.

“I meant toys for adult… angels,” he specified, raising his eyebrows to get the message across.

To no avail. Cas squinted at him so hard that he was probably giving himself a headache.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Dean mumbled to himself. “Okay, just… tell me if this is better.”

With that instruction, he pulled Cas into a dream hug, trying to give him the contact that he craved because seeing the angel in distress filled him with a desperate need to care for him. Of course, as an alpha, taking care of an omega in heat came as second nature to him. (Not that he had all that much experience with it.)

Cas’ arms immediately came up to wrap around him, which left them kind of in an awkward position, since they were still sitting on his bed and Cas was partially undressed.

“Yes!” Cas sighed, relieved. “This helps.”

Of course it helped. An omega in heat would always seek out an alpha’s touch. The only question was for how long a simple hug in a dream would be enough.


	9. Chapter 9

Since Cas was up in heaven, real touches were out of the question for the time being—which was a good thing because Dean wasn’t supposed to get it on with his cupid.

Dream touching, however? Was completely legitimate. After all, you couldn’t be held accountable for what happened inside your dreams.

“Sometimes kissing helps,” he suggested because he was just that kind of a selfless alpha who could take one for the team if need be. Dream kissing was harmless, right?

Who knew—if Cas needed it, they might just turn this into a wet dream. Cupid or not, Cas was still an omega, and Dean’s alpha liked the idea of being the first to show him the pleasure of getting his ass first licked and then fucked.

But Cas had suddenly a far-away look on his face.

“I think someone is coming,” he said.

“What, into my dream?” Dean asked, looking around the room. But there was still nothing to be seen.

“No. In reality. They locked me into a room I can’t fly out of. I think someone is approaching that room.”

“They _locked_ you… And you’re only telling me _now_?!”

“I need to go.”

And the next second, he was gone yet again.

Dean didn’t like the thought of Cas locked up in heaven somewhere while he was experiencing his first ever heat. He didn’t like it one bit.

And since when did angels keep each other prisoner?

Seemed like a rescue mission was in order…

⁂

Castiel opened his eyes just in time to see the door open and Raphael enter, together with Uriel.

“I found someone willing to make that problem of yours go away,” Raphael explained. “All you need to do is sit in that chair and let Uriel take care of things.”

Castiel glanced at the uncomfortable-looking chair.

If it meant he’d stop feeling like—whatever it was he was feeling, then maybe he should trust his brethren.

A deep yearning had started spreading out from his heart, and Castiel could not make sense of it for one bit. Yes, he wished Dean would touch him, would groom his wings again and… do more. But that wasn’t all. He also wished that Dean could… that he could _care_ about Castiel. On a deeper level. On a level that humans could only care for one another.

Castiel wasn’t capable of feeling those emotions. Or of having someone feel them for him. Thinking about that made him want to curl up in a corner and die—if only he were capable of _that_.

He nodded in agreement and went over to the chair. There was something about him that was broken. An angel wasn’t supposed to go into heat. He wasn’t supposed to… feel. Whatever that devastating feeling deep in his chest was. He hoped with all his emotionless heart Uriel could get rid of it.

“Now what?” he asked once he was seated in the chair.

Uriel and Raphael had followed him to the chair and secured those straps around his wrists.

“What are you doing?” There had been no talk of chaining him to that chair.

“Just in case,” Raphael answered evasively, nodded at Uriel and left them alone.

All of a sudden, Castiel wasn’t so sure anymore that he liked where this was going.

“Humans have been doing it for millennia,” Uriel explained. “Most of them even find it pleasurable.”

At that moment Castiel knew that whatever Uriel was about to do, he didn’t want to be a part of it. He only wanted Dean to hold him and maybe to try that kissing thing with him that Dean had mentioned.

“Uriel—you have to let me go. There is a strong bond I have developed with a human and I think he is the one I need right now.”

“Angels do not ‘develop bonds’ with humans. They are our charges. Nothing more.”

Since reasoning with Uriel wasn’t working, Castiel tried to wiggle out of the straps, but to no avail. He would usually just use his powers, but this room seemed to be blocking them.

Uriel took a step closer, ready to start… touching him maybe? But right at that moment, they heard commotion from outside.

The next second, the door burst open and…

“Dean?” Castiel asked. “What are you doing in heaven?”

“Kicking some dick with pink wings. You didn’t tell me that some of your angel buddies look so ridiculous. I mean, pink, really?”

“Humans aren’t supposed to be here!” Uriel seethed. “How did you get out of your heaven?”

Uriel was right—Dean really _wasn’t_ supposed to be here. “Dean—are you…” Castiel started, but that was impossible. He had been fine just a few minutes ago when Castiel had visited him in his dreams.

But how could he be in heaven if he wasn’t dead?

“I’m just gonna take my angel friend here and we’ll be on our way,” Dean told Uriel as he approached the chair.

Of course, Uriel wasn’t about to just give in. He had orders from Raphael and he always did what he was told.

Since Castiel was still strapped to that stupid chair, all he could do was yell, “Dean, watch out!” before the former hunter was in a fight with one of the most powerful angels of Heaven.

Luckily, Uriel’s powers seemed affected by the room too, but with the door open, he wasn’t completely powerless anymore.

Neither was Castiel.

He had to concentrate hard, and a task that usually took no more than a fleeting thought was now exhausting, but eventually, he got one hand free and used it to get rid of the other strap.

Things would probably have turned in their favor if Raphael hadn’t rejoined them.

He was sporting a shiner and his wings looked ruffled—Castiel had no idea how a mere human could have won in a fight against Raphael, but then again, Dean wasn’t ‘mere’ anything.

Unfortunately, Castiel wasn’t on top of his game just yet—all of his instincts were telling him to go bury his face in his human’s neck and scent him, and his mind was all foggy.

Dean tried to fend off both Raphael and Uriel at the same time, which was an impossible feat.

“Cas!” he yelled. “Get out of here!”

Which was a ridiculous order because— “I’m not leaving you!”

Raphael and Uriel had the human under their control now, holding his arms so that he couldn’t swing any punches anymore.

“Back to that chair or the human might not return to his _heaven_ ,” Raphael told Castiel. “I think hell still has a spot open.”

“Cas, don’t listen to him!” Dean said, trying to get free from their grip.

The next moment, Castiel heard his voice inside his head, praying to him so that only Castiel could hear, “My body’s back home. Quick, go heal me!”

Raphael had been so sure he had won that he hadn’t even tried to subdue Castiel, probably because he thought he was too weak from his heat anyway.

So, Castiel sprinted out the door and as soon as he was free from that room, flew down to Dean’s bedroom.

Every second counted. Who knew what Raphael and Uriel were doing to Dean up in heaven right now!

Dean’s body was lying on his bed, a bottle of pills in his lifeless hand.

Castiel put a hand right over Dean’s heart and let as much healing energy flow into his body as he could. He _needed_ Dean to be safe and alive, so he put all his angelic powers behind it. That stupid alpha had put himself in danger just to get Castiel back home.

Please let his power be strong enough!

Suddenly, Dean’s eyes flew open and he sucked in air, coughing a bit as he sat up.

“Well, that was fun. We should do it again sometime,” he said, which was confirmation enough that he was okay.

Castiel quickly drew a sigil on Dean’s door to ward his room against angels. He wouldn’t want to be summoned again, or have Raphael follow them here.

Only then did he finally flop down onto Dean’s bed next to the alpha, exhausted.

Instinctively, he inched closer to Dean because he needed closeness right now, even though humans needed their personal space.

“You should not have put your life on the line like that!” Castiel reprimanded him while he buried his face in the alpha’s neck to take a whiff of that familiar scent.

“You know, scolding works a lot better when you’re not cuddle-scenting me,” Dean retorted, but he stroked over his back regardless, offering the kind of touches Castiel had longed for. The kind that made something inside his chest do somersaults. The kind that made him think he could survive this angelic heat after all. The kind that made him forget all about Raphael and Uriel and made him just want to have Dean keep touching him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm out of control. After weeks of not writing, I started again and now I'm back to posting too much. Sorry for the quick update again, but I'm really not good at sitting on finished chapters.
> 
> Did you like it? A lot happened this chapter, but now they're finally really together again (not just inside a dream).


	10. Chapter 10

Dean finally had his angel back and on top of that, getting healed had invigorated him. Dying really took it out of you! Luckily, he had his very own angel to watch over him. Although, this time around, it had kind of been _Dean_ watching out for _Cas_. They had watched out for _each other_.

Right now, the mighty Angel of the Lord was all cuddled up against him, seeking those touches any omega in heat craved. Dean was more than willing to provide them.

Even though the dream excuse didn’t really work anymore, there was no way Dean would have been able to deny Cas. It wasn’t like the angel could go back to heaven to take care of things.

Now that the adrenaline from going to heaven, fighting angels, and being revived wore off, Dean could let himself relax and scent back and—oh God, but Cas smelled delicious! Utterly fuckable! No longer just in _pre_ -heat, but ripe for the taking.

“We were interrupted before,” Cas said after a while of scenting. “Do you want to finish grooming my wings?”

Oh, Dean wanted to finish all right. He just wasn’t sure if Cas knew what he was asking, where this was going. No way an alpha and an omega in heat could play around with each other—touching, scenting, _wing grooming_ —and the omega would just walk away at the end of it without a sore ass and a belly full of spunk.

“Uhm… sure,” he said nevertheless (as if he could say no to Cas!) and got up to give the angel some space to spread out on the bed again.

This time, he knew what to do and immediately sought out those oil glands to massage them gently, tease out that delicious-smelling oil again. When they were dripping wet, he leaned down to sneak a taste, letting his tongue lap at one of the glands, which made Cas shudder and moan. Such a responsive omega!

Dean continued playing with the gland, flicking his tongue across it and dipping it into the little hole, sucking the oil right out of it and leaving Cas a trembling mess.

Fascinated by how much oil was leaking out of the glands when he massaged them just right, Dean used one finger to try and tease one of the glands open until he could push the fingertip inside.

Cas was writhing underneath him, turned on to the point of not only constantly leaking oil from his oil glands, but slick from his asshole too by the scent of it.

Dean wiggled his finger until it slipped a bit deeper inside, getting a hoarse and broken, “Dean!” for his efforts.

He pulled his finger free with a soft ‘plop’ and the little hole was now gaping wider, still oozing a steady stream of oil.

“Dean!” Cas rasped again, a desperate edge to his voice. “I need…” He trailed off as if he didn’t quite know himself. He probably didn’t.

But _Dean_ knew. He left the oil gland alone. Time for another hole to get fucked!

Cas was still babbling, “Please!” and “Dean!” and “I need—” when Dean got rid of their clothes with minimal help from Cas, who didn’t have much experience getting in and out of clothes since he relied on his grace to keep them and himself clean.

Well, he wouldn’t be able to avoid getting dirty now. At the very least, there’d be a load of Dean’s spunk in his asshole after they were finished.

Pushing a finger into Cas’ hole had the angel yell something in a language Dean didn’t recognize.

“Yes. Yes, that helps,” he babbled as if Dean didn’t know that this was exactly what an omega in heat needed.

“Here’s something that will help even more,” Dean replied as he pulled his finger out so that he could line himself up with Cas’ hole.

He pushed in, just the tip, and Cas was going wild beneath him. This was the first time a cock breached him, and Dean’s alpha was very content that _he_ was the one to take that ass for the first time.

The next thrust left him buried inside Cas’ wet channel balls-deep.

And there it was. This angel was no longer a virgin. He had Dean’s cock in his ass and was about to get fucked until his ass would receive his first load.

Dean plunged his hands into Cas’ feathers, holding on for leverage as he began giving him what he needed.

Soon, the angel got the hang of it and pushed his ass back onto Dean’s dick with each thrust.

The primal instinct to mark this omega overcame him. Oh well, Dean was already defiling an angel here, he might as well go for the huge payout, so he thrust in once more and stayed inside, leaning down so that he could mouth along Cas’ neck.

Everyone should know that Dean had marked this omega! He bit and nibbled and held Cas in place when the omega tried to get the rhythm going again.

“Dean—I need you to do what you did before,” Cas finally said when Dean just continued giving him hickeys. His wings flapped helplessly, but Dean had him pinned down good, completely at his mercy.

“What I did before?” Dean repeated, amused. “You mean fuck you.”

With that, he pulled out and thrust back into Cas harshly. “You enjoy being fucked by a human, Cas? That turn you on, submitting to a human alpha?”

“Yes! Yes! You! Only you!”

That admission had to be rewarded, so Dean let go of Cas’ wings to use one hand to play with the oil glands again since he knew how sensitive they were.

With the other hand, he reached underneath Cas to take his stiff cock into his hand.

“Oh! Ah!”

Had Cas ever even rubbed one out? The sounds he made sure seemed to suggest he had never felt anything like Dean’s hand on his dick and cock in his ass.

It only took a few tugs for Cas to spend himself, his dick twitching in Dean’s hand as he yelled out his release.

Dean fucked him through his orgasm and then picked up the pace to chase his own. His heavy balls were slapping against the omega’s ass with each thrust, and then Dean pushed in deep for the last time and emptied his seed into Cas.

His knot had formed and he probably shouldn’t knot an angel, but he couldn’t help himself, so he thrust a few more times until the knot caught on his rim, making Dean shoot another load into the angel with a grunt.

He hadn’t come this hard in ages—probably never.

Satiated, Dean placed a last kiss between Cas’ wings before he rolled them over so that he was spooning Cas from behind. He just wanted to relax from the strenuous activities when he felt something weird in Cas’ hole. Was it getting dry?

“Did you just use your angel mojo?” he asked.

“There was something inside of me,” Cas retorted.

‘That’s my dick,’ Dean almost said, but then he realized what Cas had done. “That was _supposed_ to be there. My come is what’s helping your heat!”

“Oh.”

Seriously, was there no sex ed up in heaven?

“But you did help,” Cas said. “I feel much better.”

“Yeah, for a while. It would last longer if you hadn’t mojoed my sperm out of your ass.”

Typical clueless angel.

“Oh,” Cas said again.

“Don’t worry, I can go again once my knot has gone down. We’ll just have to fill you up again.”

He’d get to fuck that angel a lot during the next couple of days. And from here on out, he’d have to make sure that his seed stayed inside of Cas’ little hole.

The next time he fucked Cas, they did it face-to-face, which meant Dean got to see the expression of bliss on Cas’ face, even though the angel bit his lower lip, probably in an attempt to keep from begging Dean to fuck him harder.

Another advantage of that position was that Dean got to kiss Cas while he pounded his ass.

When Dean unloaded inside of the angel this time, his semen stayed inside Cas’ channel as it was supposed to.

While they were waiting for his knot to go down once again, they were kissing some more because it was lots of fun and omegas in heat enjoyed the more intimate parts of a fuck session.

Okay, maybe Dean enjoyed all the kissing too, but he was all high on Cas’ heat pheromones, so that didn’t count.

By the time Cas took his third load, he looked completely debauched. Of course, his former virgin asshole had gotten a good workout, but his lips were red and puffy too and there were bite marks all around his mating gland. He hadn’t even mojoed away his own spunk. Some of it was on his abdomen, and Dean had no idea how, but there was even some in his wings too. There went all of his grooming work. The wings looked disheveled just like Cas’ bedhead.

The omega’s dick lay spent against his stomach, and Dean couldn’t help but play with it a bit, just to see Cas squirm. Even angels had a refractory period, it seemed.

“These feelings are very confusing,” Cas said, a propos of nothing.

“Yeah, I bet. If you’re having your first heat at the age of four billion years, that’s gotta be confusing.” To show him how well he was doing, Dean leaned in for another kiss to his scent gland.

“I quite enjoy your penis inside my asshole.”

Dean had to grin at that. This was probably why he had so much fun taking care of Cas in heat—because it was _Cas_.

“I enjoy my penis inside your asshole too, buddy.”

Maybe a little bit too much. Getting to have this and then stopping after Cas’ heat was over would not be easy. Now that he knew what it felt like to be intimate with Cas, he sure wouldn’t mind making the occasional fuck part of their ‘grooming buddy’ arrangement.

“Dean—there is another boost of heat coming.”

“Bout,” Dean corrected as he leaned down to kiss his angel fondly.

He still had Cas right here, right now, and he’d enjoy it as long as he could. Whatever came after… well, they could deal with that after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think about the possibility of a nephilim? Not sure if that would even fit into this fic (they still have some other things to take care of) or if it could be an idea for a sequel, but I wanted to hear your thoughts anyway.  
> Edit: Sad to see that people are losing interest. But I'll try to bring it to an end.


	11. Chapter 11

Castiel now understood why humans liked to engage in intercourse so much. Dean knew just what to do to make that emptiness go away and replace it with a feeling Castiel couldn’t quite put into words.

The alpha put his penis into him many more times until the aching inside his asshole finally stayed away for good, and Dean explained that he was ‘out of heat.’

Where before, his only thought had been about Dean and how he needed the alpha to touch him as much as possible, now he could think more clearly—and there was one thing he had to make sure the alpha understood.

“I am the angel here,” he began when he was dressed again, sitting on the bed and fixing Dean with what he hoped was a stern expression.

The human was just getting dressed himself and he only spared Castiel a quick glance. “Yeah, sure.”

He obviously didn’t understand what Castiel was getting at, so he elaborated, “You should not have risked going to heaven.”

That got Dean to look up from zipping up his pants. “This again? I saved your ass. Quite literally. You could be a bit more appreciative, you know?”

“What if I had not been able to heal you? Humans are only supposed to enter heaven when their time on earth has come to an end. You time wasn’t up.”

“Yeah, what can I say? I’m a rule breaker. Are we done talking about this yet? I’m hungry.”

Stubborn human! “Dean—I don’t think you comprehend just how powerful I am. I don’t need saving.”

“Really?” Dean was finally fully clothed and raised his eyebrows at him. “Seemed to me like you could use the help.”

“Not if the price is your lie!”

Dean was _his_ charge! If he had given up his life in an ill-advised attempt to save him, Castiel would be responsible for his untimely death.

“Look—what do you want me to say here?” Dean crossed his arms over his chest. “You were in trouble. There’s no way I would have just sat on my ass, leaving you to deal with those jerks on your own. Speaking of which—are you going to be okay now that you’re out of heat, or are you in trouble with management?”

Castiel hadn’t really thought about that. He had been safe inside the warded room. But he had to return to heaven now, and Raphael probably wasn’t happy with him and the fact that he had spent his heat with a human after he had explicitly been told not to.

“Maybe you should ask Gabe if it’s safe to return. He seems like an okay guy.”

Castiel narrowed his eyes at Dean. “How do you know him?”

“Oh, he helped me escape my heaven to find you.”

Typical. Gabe probably enjoyed meddling so that Castiel would lose a charge and he could get nominated as cupid of the year.

Although Castiel had most likely lost that title anyway the moment he had gotten physically involved with his charge. Of course, it was only because of extenuating circumstances. For whatever reason, he had gone into heat—probably because he had spent so much time on earth—and angels weren’t used to dealing with mating cycles.

“Thank you for the grooming,” he said because that was easier to put into words. “And the other things,” he added, hoping that Dean would know what he was referring to.

“My pleasure,” Dean replied with a grin that told Castiel that yes, he had figured out what Castiel meant.

“Do you still…” Castiel trailed off, unsure of how to phrase it. “Do you want to continue… our grooming arrangement?”

“Sure. What’re grooming buddies for?”

⁂

Cas had left for heaven—again, which was starting to get old.

Dean should totally turn the guest room into Cas’ room, so that he’d have a reason to stick around.

At least, the angel had promised Dean he’d be back soon to tell him if he had gotten into trouble because they had ignored some heavenly rule where angels and humans weren’t supposed to get it on with each other.

Maybe Dean should have explained a bit more what had happened. After all, Cas had no idea that when an omega was in heat, alphas and omegas couldn’t help themselves. It didn’t have anything to do with Dean or Cas. It was just biology.

The simple fact that they had been in the same room together had been enough. _Of course_ Dean had fucked that omega through his heat.

(Never mind the fact that cuddling with Cas, having those wings wrapped around him, had felt like the best thing in the world. They just… fit.)

How often did angels go into heat? Dean wouldn’t mind helping Cas out again next time…

⁂

Castiel had expected some sort of fallout from his rebellion against Raphael, but instead, _Raphael_ was the one to get into trouble. Apparently, he hadn’t been authorized to lock a fellow angel up in a room that took away the angel’s powers.

Castiel was relieved. He really hadn’t wanted to stop seeing Dean. By day, he continued working as a cupid, and in the evenings, he could still visit Dean on earth.

The next time Dean groomed him and touched the sensitive undersides of his wings, Castiel got aroused and one thing led to another and somehow, Dean’s dick ended up in his ass again.

Afterwards, they were holding each other, scenting, and Castiel felt… He felt so much he _still_ didn’t have words for. What he knew was that he enjoyed it—all of it. Dean touching his wings, Dean touching him in other ways, and especially Dean tentatively scenting and kissing him and taking him into his arms, showing human affection.

The alpha mumbled something about alphas and omegas sometimes losing control shortly after an omega’s heat. Castiel didn’t quite understand, but he wasn’t about to ask. Not when he felt all these things he’d never felt before.

‘Shortly after an omega’s heat’ was, apparently, relative, since it kept happening days and weeks after Castiel’s heat had ended. Castiel didn’t mind. If it were up to him, ‘shortly after an omega’s heat’ could last for months and years.

When Dean showed him his room and told him that he could stick around and work from here if he wanted, something very strange was happening to his eyes. They were burning all of a sudden, and he couldn’t see clearly because his eyes were watering. Grateful. He was grateful, that had to be it. Grateful that Dean was showing him that he had a place here.

Everything was going well, he was _happy_ —and then, it happened. He finally figured out why he hadn’t been able to find the perfect mate for Anna Milton.

She was a fallen angel.

Once that piece clicked into place, running the numbers was very easy. The solution, however, was devastating.

But there was no doubt about it. The missing puzzle piece revealed the truth. She was _Dean’s_ perfect mate.

The alpha’s fascination with angels and wings suddenly made so much sense. Of course, his perfect mate would be a fallen angel.

Castiel had an obligation to Anna to let her meet her future mate. And Dean? Their deal had been that Castiel would give him some time to look for his mate himself. But he hadn’t really been looking, as far as Castiel could tell. The reason for that was obvious: Castiel had been too selfish and had taken up all of Dean’s time for himself.

How should Dean find his mate when he was intimate with Castiel all the time?

With a sudden surge of anger, Castiel buried Anna’s file among the others so that he didn’t have to look at it anymore.

Surely it was okay if he put that match off for a while. Just so that he could feel Dean’s arms around him once more and his affection, even if it wasn’t the real thing. Even if he was nothing but second best.


	12. Chapter 12

Castiel was being selfish.

He no longer felt unlimited joy when Dean was touching him. Now, there was a new feeling. Every day he put off his duties as Dean’s cupid, there was a tightness in his chest, which only increased when he took all the cuddles from the alpha for himself. Cuddles that weren’t his to steal.

When Dean asked him why he was so quiet, he thought about telling him the truth, but he couldn’t get his mouth to say the words. _I finally found your perfect match._ He swallowed those words and kissed Dean instead, knowing full well that this might be one of the last kisses they shared.

The worst thing was that he wanted Dean to be happy. Only, Dean couldn’t be truly happy if Castiel kept him all to himself.

There was only one thing to do—the _right_ thing to do. He had to sacrifice his own happiness for Dean’s because at the end of the day, Castiel’s happiness didn’t really matter.

He told Dean that he had to return to heaven and didn’t know when he’d be back, which was a lie. Of course, he knew that he _wouldn’t_ be back.

Dean seemed a bit dumbfounded, but in true Dean fashion, he only mumbled something like, “Oh. Okay. Sure.”

Back in heaven, Castiel thought long and hard about how to go about bringing Dean and Anna together.

In the end, he went for an old classic because he knew Dean appreciated those. He made Anna trip and fall right into Dean’s arms in the middle of the cereal aisle so that the alpha had to steady her, which made her apologize with an embarrassed laugh. Dean told her not to worry about it, turning on that charming smile of his that always used to make Castiel’s heart do funny things inside his chest.

And so it began. Castiel had witnessed it countless times—the spark that got ignited only when perfect mates met.

This was usually his favorite part about his job. The moment they smelled each other for the first time, looking deep into each other’s eyes as the hormones in their brains made them fall in love. He had always found it utterly fascinating.

This time, though, he couldn’t bear to watch it unfold. Maybe it was because now, he knew how it felt and no longer had to wonder what it was like. The tingling sensation when he looked into your eyes. Flushed cheeks and racing hearts. The electric spark when he touched you. That unexplainable tug, that magnetic pull drawing you towards him.

So, he stopped watching because he didn’t want to see Dean experiencing those things with Anna.

He also ignored Dean’s prayer later that day. And the one the next day. He didn’t need to hear the alpha gush about the perfect omega he had met. This was the phase where he would only be able to think and talk about Anna.

Instead, Castiel did what he should have done to begin with: concentrate on his charges and going back to his hands-off approach that had worked for him for thousands of years.

Time didn’t have any relevance to him, so he wasn’t quite sure when Dean finally stopped praying to him incessantly.

He should be happy about that.

He wasn’t.

“So. A little birdie told me that someone is screwing the pooch big time here.”

He really didn’t have the energy to deal with Gabe’s shenanigans right now. What self-respecting bird would talk to Gabe of all angels? And what did a dog have to do with any of it?

Besides, Castiel had won. He had finally found Dean’s perfect match. If Gabe had come to gloat, he had come to the wrong angel.

But when he turned around to tell him that, Gabe didn’t have that annoying smirk on his face, but a sad frown.

“That human of yours, Dean-o, has a broken heart. I thought you should know.”

That brought Castiel up short. How could that be? There was simply no way Anna would have broken his heart. Dean was the perfect match for her, she was supposed to be madly in love with him too. (Who wouldn’t be?)

“Oh Cassie, you’re really quite dense, aren’t you?” Gabe asked, his voice unnaturally soft, when Castiel didn’t reply right away. “You should go check on him.”

While Castiel hated doing what Gabe told him to, he had to find out if his brother was right. Dean was supposed to have found his happiness. If he really was nursing a broken heart, Castiel needed to know so that he could fix it. That’s what he was for. He was Dean’s cupid. No charge of his should suffer from a broken heart!

That’s why he broke his promise to himself to keep away from earth and flew back down, making sure that he was invisible to the human eye and that he stuck the landing this time around. He’d had a lot of practice lately.

Dean was fast asleep on his couch, an almost empty bottle of beer held loosely in his hand, a few more scattered around him. He looked like he could use the sleep if the dark circles under his eyes were any indication. All in all, he did look rather heartbroken.

Suddenly, Dean’s eyes flew open and he spilled some of the remaining liquid from the bottle onto his shirt, hissing, “Shit!” before putting the bottle on the table.

“Gabe?” he then asked, looking around the room. 

Castiel couldn’t believe it! It seemed like his brother had tried to steal his charge out from underneath his nose!

Caught, he had no other choice but to reveal himself.

“Damn. I told him not to go running to you,” Dean mumbled.

“You don’t look particularly happy,” Castiel remarked because he still couldn’t quite comprehend what had gone wrong. Dean should be the happiest alpha on earth. Why was he drinking himself to sleep?

“Yeah, well, being ghosted sucks,” Dean retorted, a strange edge to his voice.

Castiel tried to make sense of that sentence. “Did she… die?”

That would explain why Dean was left brokenhearted. Castiel should have been notified of that, but he hadn’t been able to concentrate on work too well lately. There was the slight possibility that he might have made a mistake and overlooked it.

“Did who die?” Dean asked, a blank look on his face.

“Anna.” Who else would he be talking about?!

“Who the fuck is Anna?”

“I… your perfect mate.” Surely even Dean couldn’t have messed up Castiel’s carefully orchestrated meet cute.

That prompted a groan from Dean. “Are you still on about that?” He rubbed between his eyebrows, probably in an attempt to chase away an alcohol-induced headache. “Cas, not for nothing, but you’re oh for two where finding my perfect mate is concerned. Well, oh for three now I guess, if you’re on about some Anna chick.”

“But… you were supposed to fall in love.” Nothing made sense anymore. “Did you have a cold?”

Maybe he hadn’t gotten a good scent off of Anna. An omega’s scent was important for an alpha to fall in love.

Dean didn’t answer his question and instead sighed. “Look, if you didn’t want to hang out with me anymore—I got that message loud and clear when you kept ignoring my prayers. No need to sic some omega on me. I thought we had agreed that I got to pick my own mate.”

“But she’s the best of both worlds. She’s a fallen angel,” Castiel explained. “You like angels. You would have been perfect together.” He had done the math, and his matches stayed together forever. (Well, most of them. With the exception of Dean, apparently. He was the one who made love unpredictable in a way that baffled Castiel to the core.)

“Yeah, I hate to disillusion you, but I’m not really all that fond of angels. I mean, there were douchebag number one and douchebag number two who almost killed me up in heaven. And okay, I guess Gabe is all right, but he has a very strange sense of humor and he keeps calling me Dean-o.”

Dean wasn’t fond of angels? Castiel felt a pang in his chest at those words. Since when?

“You liked my wings, though,” he said petulantly because he had smelled Dean’s arousal during the grooming process before the alpha had taken him. “One might even say you have a wing fetish.”

“I do _not_ have a fetish!” Dean protested. “But that’s kind of my point. Just because I like _you_ doesn’t mean I have to like _all_ angels.”

There was a warm, tingly rush spreading through his wings. Dean liked him.

“I just wanted you to be happy,” he said. “And I’m your cupid; I should let you find that happiness with your designated omega.” Fallen angel or not, Anna was a _human_ omega. Just what Dean needed.

“Designated, shmesignated,” Dean waved Castiel’s very valid point off. “I meant it when I said I wanted to decide for myself.”

Unpredictability had always been something that had fascinated Castiel about the alpha.

“Look,” Dean went on. “I don’t believe in destiny or fate, or whatever else you wanna call it. I believe in a bunch of angels sitting up there in heaven and playing matchmakers, but that’s about it. Uhm… no offense,” he added when Castiel narrowed his eyes at him. “So… I really don’t need you to be my cupid.”

Oh. Castiel had never been fired by one of his charges before. Granted, he had never _interacted_ with his charges before, but still.

“I could use you as my friend, though.”

That sounded nice. Castiel smiled at Dean to show him he was on board.

“Or, you know, maybe more, if you’re down for that. Whatever.”

That’s when it clicked. Castiel had assumed Anna was the reason Dean had been miserable, but Dean hadn’t even known who Anna _was_. “Dean? Was your heart broken because of… _me_?”

“You just left without much of an explanation,” Dean replied, going on the offense instead of giving a straight answer as per usual. “That’s not cool. I’ve been praying to you every day for _weeks_! And then I had to pray to _Gabriel_ just to make sure you were okay.”

“Me too.”

Dean’s face fell into a frown. “You had to pray to Gabe, too?”

“No, I mean, my heart was aching, too. I wanted you to be happy, I just didn’t want you to be happy with _Anna._ ” He still didn’t have words for everything that he was feeling, so he apologized, “I am still figuring out all of these human emotions.” There were a _lot_ of them. It was a bit overwhelming at times.

“That’s okay. So am I.”

Maybe they could figure them out together. A retired hunter who wasn’t the best at understanding his own feelings, and an angel who wasn’t even supposed to _have_ these kinds of feelings. They made quite the pair.

“Your soul is shining very brightly,” Castiel pointed out. “I think your heart is healing.”

“Stop creeping on my soul and come heal me some more,” Dean said as he opened his arms invitingly.

Castiel smiled. There was his grumpy alpha that he… loved. Yes, he was officially a cupid in love. He was sure there was some kind of irony in that.

But that didn’t matter right now because he took Dean up on the invitation for a hug that quickly turned into a kiss because that was just the best medicine to mend a broken heart.

He quickly had to revise that theory when Dean whispered into his hair, almost too quietly to make out, “Love you,” before placing a kiss to his temple.

 _That_ was, without a doubt the best medicine, he thought as he felt his heart soar higher than his wings could ever take him.

**Author's Note:**

> I know the ending is a bit cheesy, but it was either this or a cliffhanger ending that sets up the sequel.
> 
> I hope you liked it and as always, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! ❤️
> 
> If you want to support me, here is the **[rebloggable tumblr post](https://destielshipper4cas.tumblr.com/post/637595782980190208/cupid-in-love-finished-tags-wingfic-first)**.


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